Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Ah, the sights and sounds (and smells) of summer in the city...Thismorning as I walk the 3 blocks from the bus to my office, I am greetedby the mayhem that I call home.

I pass the spot where the young man fell/jumped to his death justyesterday afternoon while I was on my lunchtime walk. The spot, where, lessthan a day before, I saw a bloody, nearly-naked man covered in ablanket, has since been cleaned and all evidence washed away.

I sigh, and move on to ponder the inuendo (for those with a dirtymind) streaming out of my iPod..."Did I dissappoint you, or leave abad taste in your mouth." I chuckle and quickly return to my sadnessfor the poor soul who met his untimely fate. I wonder if he wasdissappointed?

Crossing 6th and passing the theater, I attempt to ignore the vagrantwith headphones trying to score forty-three cents. What does he needsuch an exact amount for anyway? Maybe he's got it down to a science,if only he could get the mental help he needs to stay straight, hecould then have a lucrative career in telemarketing. If he canconvince me that he's out of gas and needs to get toColumbus/ Buffalo/ Atlanta (or anywhere else he's been trying to get inthe 10 years since I first saw him on 7th and Grant trying to get thatelusive gas for his car) then I'm sure he could talk me into the slicer, dicer, peeler, and shredder with the bonus garlic peeler for just $19.99. Then I think, if I would have given him adollar then, that would have amounted to 2.9599 with the price of fuelnow.

I'm on Liberty now, passing the skirts and suits when I smell the funkthat could only be described as a urine-soaked jockstrap stewing in apot of curry. The man it emanates from confidently struts his stuffdown the street -- He's dead sexy!

Speaking of sexy, some bespectacled guy passes by in rayon/cottonblend, obviously in need of underwear. He flashes a smile as fake ashis tan and I think to myself..."Hot time, summer in the city..."

Or in the words of Cyndi Lauper:

"The streets are filledWith too many babiesBlack air in a sky of bluePeople pass byNo life in their eyesThe concrete jungle'sReally going crazy"